While full of fantastic sights, the pride of York, England is clearly its cathedral, the York Minster, the largest Gothic church north of the Alps (540 feet long, 200 feet tall). Splashed with stained glass and graced with soaring ceilings, this dazzling church brilliantly shows that the High Middle Ages were far from dark. The twin towers were built between 1438 and 1472 and each has four pinnacles of 30ft in height.